Mr. Flynn Ap Lit and Composition 10/12/10 Death and heartbreak‚ both two very tragic things that could happen in your life‚ but what makes these things tragic? According to Aristotle there are many elements to a tragic tale. Oedipus Rex lives up to all of them. The reader knows how serious Oedipus’s actions are‚ how complete they are‚ and how high his fall is. A tragedy by definition is a drama which imitates an important and casually related series of events in the
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In Oedipus the King‚ Oedipus is the new king of Thebes after the former king‚ Laius‚ was killed. Thebes has been cursed‚ and a prophet of the god Apollo tells Oedipus that Laius’ killer must be banished from Thebes. Oedipus begins on a disastrous quest to find the assassin‚ and finds that he is the one he seeks. He pierces his eyes and tries to kill himself‚ and is banished from Thebes at the end of the play. Oedipus realizes his foolishness at the end of the play‚ comparing his lack of wisdom to
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characters or to the audience. The tragedy ’Oedipus Rex’ is filled with dramatic suspense which is largely due to the effective use of dramatic irony by Sophocles. Except for Teiresias‚ all the characters in the play such as Oedipus‚ Iokastȇ‚ Creon‚ the messenger and the chorus know nothing about the proceedings of the story‚ so their speeches contain dramatic irony. Most dramatic ironies are found in the speeches of Oedipus. Almost every word uttered by Oedipus from the exposition of the play to the
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EXERCISE FOR READING‚ COMPREHENSION AND INTERPRETATION Prologue (1-150) - Oedipus‚ Priest and Creon What is the dramatic purpose of the prologue? How does Oedipus characterize himself (8)? What is his attitude toward the suppliants (13-14)? What conditions in Thebes does the Priest describe (25-30)? How do the suppliants view Oedipus (31-34;40;46)? The Priest refers to Oedipus’s saving of Thebes from the Sphinx (35-38)‚ a monster with human female head and breasts and a lion’s body with wings
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cause-and-effect chain. The plague in Thebes prompts Oedipus to send Creon to consult the oracle of Delphi; the oracle¡¦s reply that the murderer of Laius must be banished from Thebes prompts Oedipus pronounce a solemn curse on the murderer and to send for Teiresias. Teriesias states that Oedipus is the murderer‚ but since the king knows himself to be innocent (or thinks he knows)‚ he accuses Creon of plotting with Teiresias against him. The quarrel of Oedipus and Creon brings Jocasta from the house; seeking
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on older works of art as well‚ including the Oedipus trilogy written by Sophocles.
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The Robert Fagles translation of the last part of Oedipus Rex is the best translation compared to the others. The meaning of this excerpt is very rich and ties up the entire story. It also includes the main theme‚ which is one that still applies today. This translation is the best because it has some elements of poetry that makes it stand out from the others. In this section‚ the chorus is talking about the life of Oedipus. They are explaining of how he was the greatest of men‚ and how he solved
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cause a sort of hamartia; it truly is a fatal flaw. In the play Oedipus the King by Sophocles‚ the hubris and hamartia of Oedipus and Jocasta lead them to their drastic fate. Excessive pride and confidence of outsmarting the gods made their tragic prophecy come true. When a prophet comes to Oedipus to tell him who the murderer of Laius is and accuses Oedipus of the crime‚ Jocasta looks at the prophet as ignorant and explains to Oedipus that she had outsmarted the gods‚ saying “A prophet? In that
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Sophocles’’ Oedipus the King because Oedipus seeks the truth and suffers greatly when it is found. Plato’s four stages of awareness are necessary for the final form of the good‚ which is the truth‚ to be found. In both the Allegory of the Cave and Oedipus the King‚ these four stages of awareness; Imagination‚ Belief‚ Reason‚ and Understanding‚ take a vital role in explaining Oedipus’ suffering. To begin with‚ Plato would argue that Oedipus’ imagination shadows him from the real truth. Oedipus has not
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The ultimate tragedy where a man named Oedipus marries his own mother and kills his own father. Oedipus is a man born to king Laius with a prophecy that he will kill his own father. In a desperate attempt to avoid this they abandon him on a mountain. Oedipus and his real father will cross paths once again and have a fight that will leave the king of Laius dead. Oedipus will go to thebes and defeat the sphinx and become the king. Peace doesn’t last long when a plague devastated the city until the
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